Tobacco flavoring

ABSTRACT

A method of influencing the smoke flavor of a tobacco by adding to the unsmoked tobacco a flavoring material which occurs in the smoke of natural tobacco, in which the flavoring material is a 2,5 - substituted pyrrole in which the 2 - substituent is selected from the group comprising; hydrogen, methyl -, and ethyl -, and the 5 - substituent is selected from the group comprising; formyl, acetyl, propionyl, carbomethoxy, carboethoxy, methylglyoxylyl, ethylglyoxylyl, and propandione - 1, 2 l - l, the material being added in a quantity between 10 and 500 ppm.

United States Patent 1 3,580,259

[72] Inventor Werner Richard Gotthard Luttich [56] References Cited gelllersweg 34F, flflmburg-Langenhom, UNITED STATES PATENTS y 1325060 12/1919 Toms (131/143UX) 1 pp No- 21 5 [22] Filed Sept 6 1968 802,487 10/1905 Wlmmer 131/143 [45] Patented May 25, 1971 Primary ExaminerMelvin D. Rein Attorney-Malcolm W. Fraser ABSTRACT: A method of influencing the smoke flavor of a tobacco by adding to the unsmoked tobacco a flavoring [54] g g g ggy g material which occurs in the smoke of natural tobacco, in H gs I which the flavoring material is a 2,5 substituted pyrrole in [52] US. Cl 131/ 144, which the 2 substituent is selected from the group compris- 131/17, 131/143 ing; hydrogen, methyl and ethyl and the 5 substituent is [51] Int. Cl ..A24b 03/12, selected from the group comprising; formyl, acetyl, propionyl, A24b 15/08 carbomethoxy, carboethoxy, methylglyoxylyl, ethylglyoxylyl, [50] Field of Search 131/15, 17, and propandione 1, 2 l l, the material being added in a 2, l40144 quantity between 10 and 500 ppm.

The present invention relates to methods of influencing the flavor of tobacco smoke. The invention is more particularly applicable to natural tobaccos such as cigarette tobaccos, but can also be used in the case of synthetic tobaccos such as sheet made from tobacco waste products, or from a carrier substance, preferably not produced from the tobacco plant, which is impregnated with selected material so as to have the flavor of a natural tobacco when smoked. In this case it is important the carrier substance should not burn to produce materials which would impair the smoking quality.

The German patent specification 1,131,580 makes the proposal of making synthetic or artificial tobacco fibers by selecting a suitable tobacco mixture, extracting it successively with water and alcohol, then producing a combined dry extract from the two extraction steps, and mixing the dry extract with a carrier substance such as cellulose or methyl-cellulose. The carrier substance is then made into fibers similar to those of natural tobacco.

In this way synthetic tobacco is produced which has aromaand flavor-producing materials from the natural tobacco so that it can be enjoyed by smokers. It is free from certain woody or cellulosic materials of natural tobacco.

However, this previous invention does not relate to the systematic adjustment of the smoking flavor of a natural tobacco by adding or removing substances, a topic which is dealt with by the U. S. Patent No. 3,174,485. This patent describes the addition to cigarette flter materials, and cigarette paper in order to remove differences between various tobaccos.

There is also a further known proposal to improve the smoking flavor or aroma of tobaccos such as Virginia tobacco by the addition of synthetic substances influencing the aroma of the smoke so that the aroma is more pronounced than in the natural tobacco. However, this proposal was largely unsuccessful.

One object of the present invention is to provide a method for influencing the flavor or aroma of a tobacco so that the flavor remains natural, i.e., so that the smoke flavor resembles that of another tobacco, or at any rate does not resemble the smoke of a substance other than tobacco.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of supplementing flavor-influencing substances already in a tobacco.

Yet a further object is to provide a method whereby more expensive components in a tobacco mixture may be decreased without the smoke flavor or aroma being impaired.

The present invention consists in a method of influencing the smoke flavor of a tobacco characterized by the step of adding to the unsmoked tobacco a flavoring compound which occurs in the smoke of natural tobacco, the compound being a 2,5-substituted pyrrole of the following general formula:

in which R,, the 2-substituent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl-, and ethyland in which R the 5- substituent is selected from the group consisting of formyl, acetyl, propionyl, carbomethoxy, carboethoxy, methyl glyoxylyl, ethylglyxylyl and propandionel ,2-yl-1 These flavoring substances or materials occur in natural tobacco can be determined and also produced from the tobacco by steam distillation. Apart from production from natural tobacco, flavoring materials for use in the invention can also be produced synthetically once their chemical composition has been established after the step of steam distillation.

The quantity of the materials added to the tobacco can vary within wide limits, for instance, between 5 and 800 ppm, or between 5 and 500 ppm, as may be required to influence the aroma or flavor of the tobacco in the required manner.

en tobacco is to be used as a source of the compound to be added, the isolation of the compound or compounds is preferably carried out by using steam distillation. The substances are then separated from the distillate. Since such known methods do not form part of the present invention they are not described. For the substances coming within the scope of the claims of the present specification it has generally been found that synthetic preparation or separation can readily be carried out by methods described in the literature.

What I claim is:

l. A method of influencing the smoke flavor of a tobacco characterized by the step of adding to the unsmoked tobacco a flavoring compound which occurs in the smoke of natural tobacco, the compound being a 2-substituted pyrrole of the following general formula:

in which R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl and ethyl and in which R is selected from the group consisting of formyl, acetyl, propionyl, carbomethoxy, carboethoxy, methylglyoxylyl, ethylglyoxylyl and propandione- 1,2-yl-1.

2, A method in accordance with claim I in which the material to be added to the tobacco is isolated from a tobacco steam distillate. 

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 in which the material to be added to the tobacco is isolated from a tobacco steam distillate. 